268 The Fr^^nklin Bi-centennial 



whose efforts signally contributed to the securing of the 

 Smithsonian bequest, and its three Secretaries Joseph 

 Henry, Spencer F. Baird, and S. P. Langley were mem- 

 bers of the American Philosophical Society, whose rolls 

 likewise bear the names of Alexander Dallas Bache and 

 Louis Agassiz and other men prominent in statesman- 

 ship and science, who are closely connected with the 

 history of the Institution. "On the shoulders of young 

 Henry," said Sir David Brewster, "has fallen the mantle 

 of Franklin." The discovery by Franklin of the identity 

 of lightning and the electrical fluid enables man to make 

 the lightning harmless ; the discovery by Henry of the 

 laws by which the effective power of the electro magnet 

 could be made active, renders possible in the service of 

 man the telegraph and the telephone, and the daily 

 application of electro-motive power in ways innumer- 

 able 



The American Philosophical Society honors science 

 and learning in celebrating the anniversary of the natal 

 day of the illustrious Franklin, who, as the great states- 

 man Turgot declared 



" Eripuit coelo fulmen, sceptrumque tyrannis" 



(Seal) R. Rathbun, 



Acting Secretary. 



